240 ANTANKARANA BURIAL CUSTOMS. 



shining in tlie sun. At the foot of these rocks a guard is 

 constantly kept, and no one is allowed to enter the enclosure 

 contaming the houses of the guard." '" 



Tlie, SdJcaldva and Allied Tribes on the West and North. — 

 Of the last of the great divisions of the people of j\Iadagascar, 

 the numerous tribes commonly known under the name of 

 Skkal^va, we do not yet know very much. But with regard 

 to one of these tribes, those called Antankarana, at the ex- 

 treme northern end of ]\Iadagascar, the Rev. E. T. Batchelor 

 has supplied some information, from which it will be seen 

 that the strangely-repulsive custom observed by the Betsileo 

 in the south is also common in the extreme north. He says : 

 " The corpse, after being sewn up in an ox-hide, is bound tight 

 with cords so soon as the friends of the deceased think it time 

 the obsequies should be commenced (which is not so soon as 

 might be wished), in order that great quantities of beef and 

 rum may be consumed by the mourners. This marks the 

 second stage in the mourning. Several times every day these 

 cords are drawn tighter, and this process is continued until 

 nothing but the bones remain. These are then carefully lai<l 

 in a canoe, with its two ends cut square, and covered in. 

 When this has been done, the burial takes place. The coffin 

 is conveyed amidst continuous musket-firing to the family 

 cemetery, a solitary and unfrequented spot on the sea-shore ; 

 and an Antankarana will travel a very long distance in order 

 to assist at these burial customs. A cup and a plate are 

 placed by the side of the coffin, and every now and then the 

 friends go in large numbers, and taking rice and rum with 

 them, hold a feast in these cemeteries, and believe that the 

 spirits of their dead ancestors and relations come and join 

 them. Studious care is taken that these coffins are renewed 

 before they have rotted away."t 



A French writer, M. Guillain, also says: " That before placing 

 the corpse in the bier, the Antankarana subject it to a species 

 of mummification. The corpse, placed upon a stage of bamboos 

 raised some feet above the ground, is covered with aromatic 

 substances, and with hot sand, which is frequently renewed. 



* Antananarivo Annual, Ko. iv. p. 8. 

 • t Ibid. Xo. iii. p. 30. 



